On Saturday March 26th, in front of a New Meadowlands Stadium record 78,986 people, the USMNT faced #4 team in the World - Argentina. Coach Bob Bradley went with his beloved 4-5-1 formation. The Midfield Triangle of Bradley-Jones-Edu was the foundation. Not much was accomplished in the first half. It didn't look too good right from the start, four seconds Michael Bradley's pass sailed over Dempsey's head out of bounds. Argentina's front three Lionel Messi, Ezequiel Lavezzi, and Angel di Maria had their way with the US defense. Lionel Messi played like Lionel Messi and cut through the defense like a knife through butter. Then we have Tim Howard, who played like Tim Howard. He made a huge save in the 23 minute when a one-two pass freed Messi and put him one-on-one with Howard, who quickly swallowed up the ball.

There was not much offensive activity in the first half, the US struggled to get the ball up to Jozy. When they did manage to get him the ball there was no support. Jozy is good, but he is not going to be the type of guy to beat you one-on-one. Without support, nothing is going to happen. The reason why it was so hard to get the ball up to Jozy was because Mo Edu was playing arguably out of his position. Mo wasn't able to be the link between the back line and Jozy. He is more of a defensive midfielder than a attacking midfielder. He is not capable of being a box-to-box jack-of-all-trades. As a result the US was unable to get any rhythm going offensively.

Edu was needed for Bobby's great defensive triangle in the midfield, but all that defense doesn't really help offensively. Yes it could be possible that the injury to Stuart Holden left Bob Bradley no choice but to go with this triangle midfield, but it just doesn't work in my honest opinion.

Bob Bradley came to his senses at the start of the second half and subbed in Juan Agudelo for Jermaine Jones, moving the US into a 4-4-2. Jonathan Spector was also replaced by Timmy Chandler. Both substitutes made an instant impact. The US offense was now stringing together passes and creating more scoring chances than the first half. In the 58th minute a Landon Donovan freekick met the head of Carlos Bocanegra. Juan Agudelo then swooped in to put in the rebound and tie the game at 1-1.

Jozy on the USMNT's formations: "I think just for our team in general, whoever is playing up front, I think 4-4-2 we work better, but we've got to try different things, because I think we have a lot of very talented midfielders, so you've got to try and get everybody on the field."

Overall, I thought the US played well. First half was frustrating, and the midfield triangle made it difficult to create scoring chances. The triangle was able to tire Argentina, and with the addition of Juan Agudelo in the second half gave the US new life. Second half was very impressive, it looked like Argentina began to do everything they could to waste time and slow down the US attack after the Agudelo goal. It is exciting to see the young guys step up and make a difference in games. The future really does look bright, and when Charlie Davies gets back to 100% the US is going to look scary.

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